M4Carbine site maintenance will be performed the remainder of this week and the weekend at least. If the site is unavailable, it is only temporary and we encourage you to visit the links of our site sponsors. Thank you for your patience as we continue to make the site better and more user friendly.

If this is your first visit, be sure to
check out the FAQ by clicking the
link above. You may have to register
before you can post: click the register link above to proceed. To start viewing messages,
select the forum that you want to visit from the selection below.

65 gr. Sierra GameKing

Does anyone have any terminal performance experience using the 65 grain Sierra GameKing? I am wondering how it would stack up against the various open tip match bullets recommended.

The search function returns lots of hits for Sierra, but I am not finding any data for the 65 gr. GameKing. I have yet to fire it in an AR platform, but in a bolt action 1/9 twist Winchester 70 heavy barrel it can turn in .5 to .6 inch five round groups at 100 yards.

Open tip match bullets are usually not really designed to expand in tissue. The jackets are often heavier than normal and the open tip smaller than those designed for varmints.

Based on my experience shooting rockchucks and deer with that caliber, the soft point bullets are consistently better than hollow points. The front section of the hollow point will often just fold, when the soft point will actually expand. On the other hand, it may expand too violently at close range on a larger animal and give insufficient penetration. So it depends on what you are planning to shoot.

Dave

INNOVATION IS SELDOM ACCOMPLISHED WITHOUT CONTROVERSY.
My first rule of a gunfight, thanks to John Farnam's wise advice. "Get away from there!"

I was thinking of the possibility of it being used in a defensive role and am thinking it should fall into the same performance niche as the 64 gr. Winchester Power Point and Nosler 60 gr. Partition. If anybody has any penetration data to share, I would be happy to read it.

I understand that a softpoint expands while a match bullet fragments, but it interests me because the Sierra 65 gr. GameKing would be useful for 1/9 twist AR15s. I suppose the comparison should be between the Sierra 65 gr. GK and the 69 gr. MatchKing for that twist rate.

I already use the 75 gr. Hornady open tip match in 1/7 twist carbines as one of the recommendations by DocGKR. Thanks for the comments.

My son shot a small doe with a 65gr SGK. It didn't look like it caused a lot of damage, even having me wonder if it expanded at all. He's taken a few other deer with the Winchester 64gr PP and those seemed OK.

I'm not trying to draw a strong parallel between hunting and self-defense based on those scenarios, but I would definitely stick with something that's been tested and is a known good quantity.

Open tip match bullets are usually not really designed to expand in tissue. The jackets are often heavier than normal and the open tip smaller than those designed for varmints.

Based on my experience shooting rockchucks and deer with that caliber, the soft point bullets are consistently better than hollow points. The front section of the hollow point will often just fold, when the soft point will actually expand. On the other hand, it may expand too violently at close range on a larger animal and give insufficient penetration. So it depends on what you are planning to shoot.

It looks like Bill Wilson is loading the 65gr Gameking in a tactical load for .223 rifles under the Wilson Combat banner. His site lists it for hunting and for self defense. I have alot of respect for Bill and wouldn't think he'd put his name on it if it wasn't a solid performer but I would also like to see some gel test results before considering a change over.

I know this is old but I think the gameking soft point is a kick ass bullet for self defense and hunting. It is not a bonded bullet so it will fragment but I would be willing to bet its a pretty good barrier round also.
The hollow point gameking has a more stout jacket for tougher game animals. I love the gameking soft point and would not hesitate to use it for self defense.